Ok, probably a stupid question. I was "tinkering" under the hood...........imagine that. the car was near stone cold (was driven couple hours earlier)

I opened the radiator cap, and some antifreeze sprayed out. Just a quick second once the cap was twisted enough to let it out. Odd for a car when it's cold?

I was driving somewhere yesterday, and saw some antifreeze start to collect on the windshield (droplets). I pulled over, and saw some more fluid on and near the radiator cap. Tightened the cap drove off. When I stopped at a light, the steam would start to come out the hood vent.

When I stopped at a light, I would have to wait 15 seconds, before the steam would start to be visable.

I am not sure if this is normal or not, I opened the radiator cap with the motor running and the car "Hot". the fluid would rise and spill out of the radiator where the cap was. I put my finger in the hole ( ) to "lower" the fluid level in the radiator, and the fluid would gradually come back up and leak out again, no matter how many times I "lowered the level" with the cap off the radiator.

Is this normal? We all remember filling up a low radiator cap off, car running, the fluid would NOT rise like that, and spill out. Is there a problem with the thermostat or something? The temp gauge is in the normal range in the car..........if I trust it. I have no dash lights, so maybe the gauge is off.

I am not sure why this just happened out of the blue, and with the radiator cap off, and if I squeeze the upper radiator hose, the fluid comes out more (THAT is normal I believe). Is this the longest post about a simple radiator problem? Anyway, your collective brains can help me figure this one out. Sound normal? If not, what is it? Thanks in advance, as always.

 

Your fluid should flow into your overflow tank....Sounds like your radiator cap may be defective....This happened on my 7 series...

 

Thanks......... I will try another one. Appreciate the response!

 

Possible air bubbles in the system??

Try letting the car warm up and go through a couple cycles (the radiator fan will come on then go off) and if you see any bubbles in the opening of the radiator cap, then that probably was your problem.

Or could be the radiator cap, is it OEM?

And I doubt that it is the thermostat...

 

Thanks for more insight. YES, it is the oem cap. I didn't hear the fan come on at all. maybe I better make sure it's working. I have had the plug-in on the fans come off before. I did see some tiny bubbles in the antifreeze when I let it idle with the cap off. Normally when the rad. fluid is low, and you fill up the radiator with fluid, the water level doesn't slowly fill up and spill out of the radiator does it? If I push my finger in there, (to lower the fluid level in the radiator) I can just sit and wait for 10 seconds, and the water will FILL up to the rim of the radiator and spill out of the hole. No matter how many times I lower the level by sticking my finger in the hole. (I feel dirty now, like describing a dirty **** scene)

 

I have a new radiator pressure tester gizmo and when I did the 30,000 mile service on my '03 I checked the radiator pressure cap and it flunked - it wouldn't hold pressure. This didn't cause any symptoms like you describe or any symptoms at all. Still, for optimum cooling you need a pressure cap that is working. So, for people who don't have a tester and this would be most people, I suggest you add this item to your 30,000 mile parts list.

Since the flow in the radiator is from top to bottom the upper tank will fill every time the thermostat opens. So, it is normal for the level to go up and down if the engine is warm enough to open the thermostat. If the engine isn't warm enough to open the thermostat then it is normal to see the level slowly rise as the coolant expands.

 

Thanks barneyb! I didn't know that, you learn something new every day!

 

Pressure in the cooling system varies with every car model. Some show no pressure when cold, the Evo always shows some pressure when cold. Once you let some coolant drip on the radiator it will take days to burn off. Remember that coolant is designed to take heat so typical radiator heat is not enough to burn it off. I personally dont think their is anything wrong with your cooling system. The guy that tested his cap and found it to be bad probably didnt test it properly, in over 11 years of working as a tech I have changed 1 bad radiator cap. Evos are not prone to having air in the system either.

 

Thanks superz, appreciate it! Cute dog in your avatar!

 

Yeah my PWR radiator is doing the same thing i just gave up on it.

 

What up fart! What did you do about it, and what was the problem with it?

 

I haven't lost any fluids but whats weird is i smell coolant time to time.
i did get a new 16lbs cap from napa auto parts which seem to help. We have been watching very closely to see if were pushing any coolant with the boost were pushing.

 

After this race season im going to a different turbo ya should buy mine and get rid of that cute baby toy you have. Shoot ill even let ya make payments :P

 

atta boy! I smell coolant also.

 

Fill the radiator up, put the cap back on and, run the car till it's hot. Then fill the overflow tank to the hot fill line. Walk away.

You should know by now that every time you open your hood you're going to walk away with more questions than answers.